Arc System Works CEO Minoru Kidooka has shed some light on the state of Blazblue, saying that ultimately the company would like to avoid direct competition with the Guilty Gear series.

In an interview with IGN, Kidooka said that it’s not like the Blazblue series was permanently shelved- but rather with Guilty Gear Strive still going strong, he implied it would be unwise to release a similar title so soon.

“One thing that we’re concerned with, one thing that we’re thinking about right now is that we don’t want to really have Guilty Gear and BlazBlue competing with each other. So we are focusing mainly on Guilty Gear”, Kidooka says.

He did however, acknowledge the strong community for Blazblue that’s been keeping the game alive:

“But of course BlazBlue is a title that the community loves”, he continues. “The community has put so much effort into making it what it is today, and keeping that in mind, we do want to touch back on the series at some point. So it is definitely not the case that BlazBlue is done. It is something that will be in the future. But for now, Guilty Gear is the main”.

In the same interview Kidooka had praised the success of Guilty Gear Strive, saying that resources would be allocated to supporting the game.

“So regarding just Guilty Gear Strive, it both hit and kind of exceeded all of our projected expectations”, he said. “Along with that, of course, we’ve put out the two seasons that we have already and we want the game to continue on and continue strong. So we plan to continue making those seasons available. But in terms of planning for the next game, in the Guilty Gear series, for now, we’re sticking to the seasons”.

The Wait For More Blazblue

Fans had been anxious about the future of the Blazblue series, which hasn’t seen a mainline entry since Blazblue Centralfiction in 2015.

The series did receive a crossover tag fighter, Blazblue Cross Tag in 2018, though fans had hoped the series would receive a new fighting game in the 5 years since.

It should be noted that rather than get a new title, Arc System Works retrofitted both titles with rollback netcode, allowing fans to better enjoy online matches.

Fan worries were further exacerbated by the reveal that Blazblue creator Toshimichi Mori had left Arc System Works to start his own studio, with many concerned that the series had been shelved.

That being said, the Blazblue series has lived on in spin-off titles: Blazblue Alternative: Dark War had released and shuttered in the time since Cross Tag’s last update, with another roguelite title, Entropy Effect, also heading to mobile and PC.